


Bared Heart

by TheCaptainOfThisFleet



Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Biting, Blood, Enemies to Lovers, Growing Up, M/M, Mentions of Violence, Pre-Relationship, also no jeongin, rated teen for a bit of violence and language, sorry - Freeform, theres no hyungline
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-10
Updated: 2019-04-10
Packaged: 2020-01-11 00:13:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,875
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18418817
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheCaptainOfThisFleet/pseuds/TheCaptainOfThisFleet
Summary: Hyunjin was seven when his parents decided to move to a foreign country.He hated it, because he didn't understand the language and when his parents made him go to kindergarten his teacher called him Sam.or: Hyunjin moves to Las Vegas when he's a kid and in kindergarten he meets Jisung, who simultanuously is his worst enemy and the love of his life. (or something like that)This is a companion piece toBared Teethbut can be read as a standalone.





	Bared Heart

Hyunjin was seven when his parents decided to move to a foreign country.  
He hated it, because he didn't understand the language and when his parents made him go to kindergarten his teacher called him Sam. After she realized that everything she said went right past Hyunjin, she brought him to two kids playing in the dirt next to a tree.  
She told them something and one boy looked sour while the other smiled widely and said something to Hyunjin. The teacher left to show his mother the rest of the kindergarten.  
"I don't understand you," he said and the boy looked puzzled. Hyunjin felt puzzled, so it was only fair.  
"He introduced himself. His name's Felix," the other boy said in Korean and Hyunjin almost cried. Thank God someone understood him. He smiled at The Other Boy, who just looked like he had taken a bite out of a lemon.  
Felix said something that The Other Boy translated as "He says you can play with us."

Hyunjin had been busy building a tower on top of the apparent castle for Felix' worm when the whole thing collapsed. Felix' burst into tears.  
The Other Boy (he hadn't told Hyunjin his name) pushed Hyunjin angrily. Hyunjin pushed back and threw a handful of dirt at him. Felix cried even louder and The Other Boy screamed angrily as he threw himself at Hyunjin. Hyunjin screeched when The Other Boy bit into his forearm  
He was crying by the time the teacher had separated them and was clutching at his bleeding arm. The Other Boy (Peter? But maybe their teacher called the boy Peter like she called him Sam?) had bitten him once more and he was bleeding all over his new shirt that was now stained with grass and dirt and blood.  
He was still crying when The Other Boys father picked him up (his name was Jisung, Hyunjin learned from the angry rant coming from his father) and still when his mother came to pick him up and pay a visit to the hospital.

From then on, Hyunjin _hated_ Jisung. They avoided each other as much as possible and when their teacher made them sit together, Hyunjin threw a toy truck at Jisung. Jisung bit his arm again, right next to the two healing marks.  
Hyunjin was alone throughout kindergarten. He didn't speak the language at all and when he had slowly learned enough to talk, no one wanted to talk to him.  
Jisung and Felix glared at him angrily whenever they saw him and Hyunjin more than once threw toys or dirt at them. They didn't like each other and their teacher held them apart until they were old enough to go to elementary school.

A lot of things changed in elementary school. Seungmin came to their school, parents only just moved to Las Vegas from Korea and he spoke as much English as Hyunjin had in the beginning. Hyunjin claimed him as a best friend immediately. His teacher looked pleased that he didn't have to care much for the new Korean kid he called Tom.  
Hyunjin still didn't fully understand why they insisted on calling them Sam and Tom and Peter and Felix. They had actual names. Why did they insist on giving them an entire different set?  
Seungmin was nice. He liked to study and he learned English way faster than Hyunjin had. He even started playing baseball as soon as his English was good enough. Hyunjin liked his new best friend.  
The new teachers tried to make Hyunjin and Jisung make up, it only ended in Jisung baring his teeth at Hyunjin in a snarl and Hyunjin kicking Jisung in the shin. They were held apart again. Not that Hyunjin complained. Two scarred biting marks (the other times Jisung had bitten him had vanished completely) were enough for him, thank you very much. And he wasn't alone anymore, he had Seungmin now.

\----

Hyunjin and Seungmin grew very close during elementary and middle school. After Seungmin had decked Jisung in the face during third grade, Jisung and Hyunjin rarely got physical anymore. They were screamers more than they were fighters. And they screamed a lot at each other.  
Until Jisung just stopped during their last year of middle school. Hyunjin was actually kind of worried about his enemy slash whatever Jisung was. He actually considered the other as one of his closer friends, even though they got detention after detention because they didn't tolerate each other in their personal bubble. But aside from Seungmin, Jisung and Felix really were the only ones he even talked to on a regular day.  
So when Jisung stopped even insulting him in clever ways when they met in the hallway, Hyunjin got worried. Jisung looked tired and sad all the time.  
He was so worried that he actually sought out Felix to ask him about it during their first year of high school. Felix had just shrugged and said "Puberty, man". It didn't satisfy Hyunjins worry or curiosity, but he let it slide.  
Seungmin later grinned at him and asked if he had developed a crush on the violent kid. Hyunjin pushed him and Seungmin cackled. But Hyunjin was harboring feelings for Jisung. He didn't know of what nature they were and Seungmin certainly didn't need to know (yet), but there was a tingle in his chest when he saw Jisung and Felix laugh together. He had almost forgotten how ready Jisung had always been to get physical during their peaceful times.

\----

Hyunjin and Seungmin were arguing over who was the cooler Stark daughter (Sansa) when someone pushed Hyunjin. He almost fell down the stairs if it hadn't been for Seungmin catching him by the wrist.  
When he turned around he only caught a glance on the culprits face (Arthur something, a new student) before a Jisung shaped flash pushed Arthur back. Jisung snarled at him. Jisung was maybe half the size of Arthur in every dimension and yet it was Arthur that looked surprised.  
It didn't last long and the punch Arthur delivered was hard enough for Jisung to fall like a sack of potatoes. Hyunjin almost screamed, but Jisung was back on his feet before he could even open his mouth. Another punch knocked Jisungs head around, then he sunk his teeth in Arthurs hand.  
Hyunjin knew Jisung had a strong jaw and Arthurs scream proved him that the force of his bite had only grown stronger. Jisungs knee flew up and Arthur just crumbled into a pile of pain.  
There was a moment of complete silence where everything seemed muted. Hyunjin sat next to Seungmin on the dirty hallway floor, Jisung stood over Arthur like David after his victory over Goliath, with blood spilling down his chin.  
It only took seconds for a teacher to see the scene and Jisung was hoisted towards the principal office by the back of his shirt. Arthur was sent to the school nurse.

Felix sought them out only minutes later and they locked themselves in the abandoned bathroom at the end of the hallway on second floor. They all fitted themselves in the last stall with Seungmin sitting on the window sill and Felix on the closed toilet lid.  
"Okay, spill the beans, what's going on between you and Jisung?" Felix asked and looked at Hyunjin through small eyes. His voice dropped to a low growl and cracked and went back to normal. Normally, Hyunjin would make fun of his voice break, but right now he was kind of rattled.  
"What makes you think it's because of me? We haven't even talked in a month or two?" His voice was shaky and he could feel the tears prick at his eyes. He didn't even know why he was so close to crying.  
"Well, no offense, but I don't think it's because of Seungmin. And Jisung is not violent in general." Seungmin giggled and Hyunjin would have kicked him if Felix hadn't been in the way. Traitor.  
"Yeah, well, fuck you too, why do you think it's my fault now?" Hyunjin asked. He could tell Seungmin and Felix had seen the tears swimming in his eyes, because they didn't say anything about it.  
Seungmin climbed over Felix and hugged Hyunjin. Hyunjin on the other hand hiccuped from trying to keep himself from crying. "What if he gets expelled because of me?"  
Hyunjin was so close to upright bawling when suddenly the door opened. All three of them stilled, Hyunjin froze against Seungmin. The tap turned on.  
When they heard Jisung yell out "Fuck!", Felix was already out the stall and shaking Jisungs shoulders.  
"Jisung, what the fuck! You were ready to murder him, what got into you?!" he yelled and Hyunjin and Seungmin peered out of the stall. Hyunjin caught a glimpse of his face in the mirror with puffy eyes and splotchy cheeks, but he quickly focused on Jisung again, who was turning his back to the group and looked at Felix through the mirror.  
There were bruises forming on his cheekbone and around his nose already. They would probably darken considerably in a bit.  
"What do you want to hear, Felix? That I went over the edge, snapped, went insane? That didn't happen. I'm still me. You didn't judge me when I fought with Hyunjin every day," Jisung hissed and spit blood into the sink. Felix nudged Seungmin when Jisungs head dipped down to wash out his mouth.  
"Why did you do it?" Hyunjin asked, earning surprised looks by both Seungmin and Felix. Jisung turned around, wiped his chin with his sleeve and just watched Hyunjin for a second. He sneered.  
"Remember, Hwang Hyunjin. I am the only one allowed to make you cry."  
With that, he turned around and left the bathroom. Hyunjin gaped. Felix went running after Jisung and Seungmin laughed.  
"He thinks he's cool, huh?"

Jisung was suspended for two weeks and during those, Felix hung around with Seungmin and Hyunjin. Felix and Seungmin seemed to plot something between them. Hyunjin wouldn't really care, but since they kept glancing at him he supposed he wouldn't like the result. Maybe he and Jisung should have kept the both apart.  
Arthur avoided them as much as he could. When he sat at a table in the library and saw them coming, he left. He ducked his head whenever they stood near each other. Hyunjin supposed he hadn't really been prepared to fight Jisung, but to be honest, no one ever was.

"Listen, all I'm saying is that stupid boys sometimes pull the pigtails of the person they like," Felix said one day when he plopped down next to Seungmin and Hyunjin. Maybe he thought Hyunjin wasn't listening because he had ear buds in or he just didn't care if Hyunjin heard.  
"And I'm saying biting doesn't count as pulling pigtails. Look. He has scars from it still," Seungmin gestured at Hyunjins forearm where you could still see the bite marks. "This equals ripping hair out."  
"Yeah, well, I never said he was good with dealing with emotions, so I'm still right." Felix retaliated. Hyunjin cocked his head. Where they talking about Jisung? And whose pigtails was he pulling?  
"Who is pulling whose pigtails?" he voiced his thoughts. Felix startled so bad that he almost fell out of his chair. Seungmin laughed and got shushed by the librarian.  
"Shit, Hyunjin! I thought you weren't listening!" Felix whisper-yelled. "But we're talking about Jisung."  
"I still stand by it. This is ridiculous and you have no idea about love or having a crush. Obviously." Seungmin said, ignoring Hyunjins "What?!".  
"Fuck off, I know Jisung and he is in love"  
"As far as I know he also beat Hyunjin up because he made you cry, so is he in love with you too?"  
Were they talking about Jisung and Arthur? Hyunjin had never seen them talk before they got into that fight. Or did they know each other from outside of school? Did they talk outside of school?  
"I'm his brother, of course he loves me."

Jisung came back after two weeks and Hyunjin was relieved to see that the black eye had faded to nothing. In the right (wrong?) light, you could still see yellowish bruises on his cheekbone, but otherwise he looked as fine as ever.  
Hyunjin had thought that Felix would return to Jisung now and they went their separate ways, but Felix stayed and brought Jisung to them. It was a strange feeling. Hyunjin had gotten used to Jisung not outright attacking him anymore, but seeing him sitting with Hyunjin, Felix and Seungmin in the cafeteria and backing Seungmin up in his wrong opinion on Arya being cooler than Sansa was just strange.  
The discussion came to a screeching halt when Jisung looked directly at Hyunjin and said "Did he bother you when I was gone?"  
Hyunjin wasn't used to this either. Not Jisung looking at him with such an expression (worry maybe?) and not to the way his heart just pitter-pattered away. He was only saved from stuttering embarrassingly by Felix laughing.  
"I think you scarred him for life! He's never going to fuck around with a squirrel again," Felix said and Hyunjin laughed along. Jisung looked sour for a second but his face morphed back into a pleasant smile. Hyunjin could see the small imperfection the fight had left in Jisungs front teeth, but it was barely noticable.  
The discussion derailed quickly when Felix brought up that their Stark discussion didn't matter because Brienne was the best character on Game of Thrones and that was just fact.

\----

Hyunjin realized he was in love with Jisung when he and Seungmin were on their way home from one of Seungmins baseball practices. He stopped dead on the sidewalk.  
"What's the matter? Did you leave your phone again?" Seungmin asked when he noticed Hyunjin wasn't by his side anymore.  
"I think I have a crush on Jisung," he said, because Hyunjin didn't make a habit out of lying to Seungmin. Partly because he didn't like lying and partly because Seungmin could always tell when Hyunjin wasn't entirely honest.  
Seungmin blinked at him.  
"That occurred to you just now? I could have told you that two weeks ago. No, scratch that, a month ago."  
Hyunjin looked at his best friend and hummed, before they continued on their way. Seungmin even paid for their milkshakes on their way home. 

Now that Hyunjin had gotten around to name his feelings, he found them a bit unnerving. His heart sped up whenever Jisung smiled at him (which happened more and more often) and when Jisung asked him things with a sincere expression, his voice betrayed him.  
Seungmin and Felix made fun of him endlessly. Because, apparently, Seungmin and Felix were friends now and Seungmin had immediately ratted Hyunjin out to Felix, who most likely had told Jisung the second he knew. That Jisung didn't say anything about the matter only made Hyunjin realize that this probably wasn't something Jisung wanted to think about.  
Hyunjin accepted that his feelings weren't reciprocated. Because Jisung still smiled at him and he didn't act weird around him. Or, weirder than he usually did.  
The one person that did get weird was Felix. Felix was a pretty weird dude to begin with, but suddenly whenever Hyunjin looked at him, Felix was wiggling his eyebrows at Jisung and making faces.  
Jisung looked pretty annoyed with it, but didn't really do anything to stop Felix. Aside from occasionally hissing at him to just fucking stop. He even yelled at Felix in Spanish. There was something very iconic about Jisung yelling "Give it a rest, potato head!" in Spanish and then promptly being sent out of the room. Seungmin must have thought so too, because he exploded in laughter and was sent right after Jisung. Hyunjin could still hear him through the door.

"What got your panties in a twist?" Hyunjin asked when he caught up to Jisung. He had made it a habit to accompany Jisung to his locker whenever he could. Jisung was in a bad mood since he entered the class room in the morning and Felix' escapades during lunch hadn't really made it better.  
"Felix is being an annoying dickhead," Jisung hissed and stopped in front of the lockers. He violently jerked on the lock as soon as he had put his code in and when he ripped the door open, it clanged against the locker next to Jisungs.  
"He's doing a lot of eyebrow training recently. So that's your fault? Minnie's worried they'll fall off and become caterpillars."  
Jisung gave him a sour look and threw his books to the back of the locker.  
"Since it's because I have a crush on you, it's actually your fault," Jisung shot back and threw his locker door closed.  
Hyunjin looked at Jisung with wide eyes, but Jisung didn't seem bothered when he twisted the lock shut. Had he realized what he said? Did he want to try to ignore that?  
Then Jisung froze with his fingers still on the lock. He turned around very very slowly and stared Hyunjin in the face with giant eyes and a surprised look on his face.  
Hyunjin opened his mouth to say something, anything, when Jisung ran down the hallway and vanished in the staircase, leaving Hyunjin dumbfounded.  
Had Jisung just confessed to him? Had he meant what he said? Did he think Hyunjin would hate him because Jisung was in love with him?

He still stood there when Seungmin came looking for him. He was also still staring at the empty staircase Jisung had disappeared to. His long time crush had just confessed and fled the scene right after, who could judge him.  
Not even Seungmin did, because Seungmin liked judging people but also knew when to take Hyunjins emotions seriously. And he had been forced to listen to Hyunjin whining about Jisung more than a dozen times.  
"I'm going to beat some common sense in that squirrel brain of his, I swear to God," Seungmin said when Hyunjin had ended his recount. "And then I'm kicking his ass."

\----

Seungmin didn't have the chance to beat common sense into Jisung. The rest of the day, Jisung didn't turn up. Felix sent them questioning looks during their remaining classes they shared, but Hyunjin didn't feel like talking to Felix about Felix' best friend being an idiot.  
The next day, Jisung only arrived seconds before their teacher and was gone the second the teacher dismissed the class. He was nowhere to be found in between periods. Felix looked like he was slowly panicking and he kept trying to call Jisung on his phone.  
Suddenly his face changed to pure delight which was definitely not caused by their chemistry teacher explaining... whatever he was explaining.  
He waved his phone screen at Hyunjin and Seungmin, wiggled his eyebrows and in the next break, he vanished off wherever. Seungmin suspected Jisung had messaged him.  
They didn't find out, because now Felix and Jisung were missing.  
Seungmin sighed on their way to Spanish class and said that they were going to skip class. Hyunjin had registered nothing during chemistry and Spanish wouldn't be much better.  
They paid a quick visit to the school nurse to get Hyunjin attested with a weird stomach bug and were sent on their way home. 

"Do you think he hates me?" Hyunjin asked when they were walking down the sidewalk. They weren't really going anywhere, but walking had always cleared out his brain. And he often discovered new things about the city on his walks, including his current favorite pastry shop.  
"Why would he start hating you again?" Seungmin asked back. Hyunjin shrugged. How would he know? He didn't even know for sure why they hated each other in the first place.  
"Well, why did we hate each other anyway? I don't know what's going on in his head, Minnie!" Hyunjin answered pointedly.  
"I'm pretty sure it was because you killed Felix' pet worm. He told me. His name was Berry II."  
Hyunjin was close to kicking Seungmin when Seungmin stopped dead.  
"Is that... Felix?" Seungmin asked and pointed towards the McDonald's on the other side of the road. And true enough, behind the big front window sat Felix next to Jisung and two other teenagers.  
Hyunjin was about to turn around and flee, but Seungmin grabbed his wrist and didn't let go.  
"You're not gonna do the same idiotic mistake as Jisung did, Jinnie," he hissed and pulled Hyunjin towards the road.  
"What if he laughs at me in there and embarrasses me in front of his friends? Or if I embarrass him? What if he says no?!" Hyunjin tried with all his might to withstand Seungmins pull, but to no avail. Stupid Seungmin with his stupid baseball training and his stupid muscle.  
"If he does I'll buy you milk shakes until the end of time, just go in there and be a man."  
"I'm not a man, I'm a teen! Not even a brave one! Seungmin, Minnie, please don't make me do this!" Hyunjin broke out all of his drama queen personality and only barely restrained from flopping down on the ground.  
And only because one of the teens sitting with Jisung and Felix caught his eyes and cocked his eyebrows at him.  
"Okay, okay, I'm doing it, please don't make a scene," he finally said, straightened up and entered the McDonald's. He could feel Seungmin stare at his back, most likely with his mouth wide open.

Hyunjin could see how Jisung threw an onion ring at one of the other teens who was laughing heavily. Before his surge of adrenaline and courage left him again, he stepped up to the table and said "Jisung, can I talk to you for a second?"  
Jisung whipped around to him and his face paled. He looked back at his friends and then got up to follow Hyunjin out the door.  
Hyunjin didn't think he would have the courage to say what he wanted to say if he looked at Jisung, so he kept glancing around to see where Seungmin was. He didn't see him, but that didn't mean he wasn't there.  
"Why did-" Hyunjin started out, but he couldn't even finish his first question before Jisung cut him off.  
"Listen, I'm sorry, okay? I didn't want to say that I was stressed out and I didn't want to make things awkward between us and-"  
A heavy weight lifted from Hyunjins chest as Jisung rambled. He had thought that maybe Jisung just didn't like him, but it seemed to be quite the opposite.  
He stepped closer to Jisung, but when that didn't distract him from his panicked rant, Hyunjin grabbed his face and kissed him.  
Jisung made a not-so-attractive noise and stumbled back as soon as Hyunjin let him. His face was bright red and his ears were practically glowing.  
"For someone who duelled for my honor, you're pretty fucking shy about it, huh?" Hyunjin grinned. Jisung hid his face in his hands and whispered a "Oh my God, shut up". Hyunjin giggled and hugged Jisung closely.  
Felix was giving him a thumbs-up from behind his window with a wide grin.

**Author's Note:**

> This is a companion piece to [Bared Teeth](https://archiveofourown.org/works/18400055).
> 
> They can both be read individually and are basically the same story but from different perspectives.  
>  _Bared Teeth_ is about Jisung's side of the story.


End file.
